Groundhog Day 2012: 10 Facts About The Day, The Animal And Punxsutawney Phil (PHOTOS)

The February 2 celebration, which involves a weather-predicting woodchuck, dates back to the late 19th century, with other mid-winter weather holidays dating back hundreds of years before that.

On Groundhog Day, a groundhog in the small town of Punxsutawney emerges in the morning to a throng of onlookers. If he spots his shadow and returns to his hole, it means winter will last six more weeks. If the groundhog does not see his shadow, an early spring is sure to come.

Groundhog Day 2012: 10 Facts About The Day, The Animal And Punxsutawney Phil (PHOTOS)

10 Things You Didn't Know About Groundhog Day

10 Things You Didn't Know About Groundhog Day

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Woodchucks Don't Chuck That Much Wood

Despite the common tongue-twister, woodchucks (<em>Marmota monax</em>) are burrowing creatures that usually stick to smaller plants.
The name woodchuck is likely derived from a Native American term for what are now also called groundhogs.
<a href="http://itotd.com/articles/406/folk-etymology/" target="_hplink">According to Alt Concepts</a>, woodchuck may be derived from the Cree word "otchek" or the similar Ojibwa word "otchig." European settlers "substituted syllables that sounded more familiar and yet approximated the original sound" in a process that is known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_etymology" target="_hplink">folk etymology</a>.
<a href="http://www.news.cornell.edu/chronicle/96/2.1.96/facts.html" target="_hplink">According to the <em>Cornell Chronicle</em></a>, woodchucks are not very good at moving timber, but "some will chew wood."
In response to the question "How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood," <a href="http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/411/how-much-wood-would-a-woodchuck-chuck-if-a-woodchuck-could-chuck-wood" target="_hplink">one wildlife biologist reportedly found</a> that the volume of an average woodchuck burrow is equal to about 700 pounds of wood.

02/02/2012 3:20 PM EST

Watch "Groundhog Day" On Groundhog Day For Free! (With Commercials)

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02/02/2012 2:16 PM EST

A Different Prediction

Punxsutawney Phil rival Woodstock Willie also made a prediction today, but his forecast differs from Phil's. Willie, who is from Woodstock, Illinois, didn't see his shadow, delighting midwesterners with the promise of an early spring.